Naruto: An Imperial Life
by Wolverine 2.0
Summary: He abandoned his home, his friends and all he ever knew. Now Naruto has now found a new life and a new home he can belong too. But when his past catches up to him he must decide whether to keep running away or face the people he left. (Emperor Naruto story) reviews are greatly encouraged. UP FOR ADOPTION
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: prologue

Deep within the forests of the land of fire, at the base of a great mountain, lied the village of Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. The hidden leaf had a long and proud history, having produced many strong shinobi and boasting a reputation as the strongest hidden village in the world. Above the village carved into the mountainside was the Hokage monument, showing the faces of all the people whom had held title of Hokage.

The Hokage was the leader of the village and was seen as the protector of the hidden leaf and its people, being the strongest shinobi in the village. The title of Hokage was one that many shinobi strived for, whether to selflessly protect their loved ones, to attain glory or to gain the respect of the populace.

Stemming from the teachings of the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju, the shinobi of Konoha followed the Will of Fire, an ideology that states that the entire village is a family and every Konoha shinobi should love, believe, cherish, and fight to protect that family.

'The will of fire... look where it got me'

Despite such an ideal, that many of the village's shinobi seem so proud of, there will always be an exception. People will always have the capacity to hate that which they fear and do not understand.

'I risked my life for the village and look where it got me'

It is the duty of a shinobi to risk their life for the sake of their village, to put the mission before themselves and to forsake any emotion and instead rely on reason and logic. This was something that every child at the academy was taught.

'Then why do they hate me for no reason?'

Near the centre of the village of Konoha, in the hidden leaf's hospital, lied a young teen by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. He had sun kissed, blond, spiky hair and deep cerulean eyes. He was laying in a hospital bed, covered in bandages under a hospital gown and despite it being night time was wide awake staring out the window, gazing upon the quiet village that he had risked his life time and time again to serve and protect.

'Sasuke…'

The young blond had returned from a failed mission three days ago to return his former teammate, Sasuke Uchiha, whom had deserted the village. Despite finally catching up to the last Uchiha he was not able to fulfill the promise he made to his crush, Sakura Haruno, returning with only a broken body and a broken heart.

'I tried to bring him back but i failed' the boy thought to himself as he slowly sat up in his bed, turning to look out onto the village.

After being found by his sensei at the Valley of the End, Naruto had been brought back to the village. Yet as he was carried through the streets to the hospital he saw how the citizens of Konoha had glared at him with such distrust and animosity.

'It's still the same as it was since I could first remember…. it will never change… they'll never change' thought Naruto as he clenched his fists.

"I've tried to earn their respect... but i never will" he whispered to himself this time as a lone tear trailed down his face.

In the week since his return Naruto had been cooped up in his hospital bed with only his thoughts to keep him company. Some of his friends had come to visit but were more concerned about their own teammates who went on the mission. From what he heard Neji and Chōji both underwent intensive medical treatment but were both successfully healed and expected to make a full recovery. Kiba and Akamaru were moderately injured but were being taken care of and Shikamaru, the team's leader had just a broken finger. Naruto himself had suffered serious injuries including two chidori's to the chest, a few broken ribs and chakra burns to his skin, at least that was what he could remember from Tsunade's report. Most of it had healed already but he was still weak and he wasn't allowed out for another day at least.

Since his fight with Sasuke, Naruto had been thinking about what the Uchiha had said to him. He thought back to the way the villagers glared at him as he entered the village, how they glared at him when he would walk down the street. All his life they had done this, it was all he knew.

"Hmph… i brought them their new Hokage and yet they still hate me" he said with hatred clear in his voice as he stood in front of the windowsill.

Tsunade had only been able to visit long enough to tell him of his injuries as well as how long he had to stay in hospital for and to give a short "it'll be alright naruto". Kakashi had come to visit during the day looking a bit depressed himself.

The man had gave a long speech saying he was sorry for focusing on Sasuke so much and for passing Naruto off to Ebusi during the chunin exams, Naruto didn't really pay much attention and had simply told the man to fuck off.

He had been so angry lately, at everything. He snapped at the nurse the day before for for giving him a bad look and he punched a doctor for trying to sedate him so he would sleep. He had become so easy to anger since the mission and yet he just couldn't care anymore

'I'm tired of being the happy little genin everyone thinks I am'

Sakura hadn't come by yet and it really pissed him off. Before he left the girl had practically begged him to promise her to bring Sasuke back and now hadn't even come by to see if he was alright, despite being an orphan and somewhat lacking in social convention even Naruto knew that was just wrong.

'Oh well…' he thought as took a deep breath. "I don't need her… i don't need kakashi…. I don't need this village" he said to himself as he gazed into the sky and looked at the full moon. Ever since he was a child his emotions seemed to become more erratic and negative during the full moon, he had always tried to calm himself down ignoring all the negative thought that popped into his head but right now he just didn't care.

'I know what I need now' he thought as he looked at his bandaged hands.

'All my life the people here have given me nothing but their hate, they either ignored me or glared at me… i defended them from a raging Jinchūriki, i brought Tsunade to the village, i tried to bring a traitor back but no matter what i do they will still hate me'

He brought his hand to his stomach, to the seal that had cursed his life and closed his eyes. He fought back tears as he finally let go of his hopes of being accepted as a member of the village. If anything good had come from Sasuke's defection then it was the fact it had opened Naruto's eyes.

By the next day as the sun rose above the village, Naruto's room would lie empty. By the time the nurse would realise and Tsunade had managed to scramble what few shinobi she had to search for him, the boy was long gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 3: A New Era

Eight years later

Many things had changed in the last eight years. The five great nations, which had once warred amongst each other had in the aftermath of the fourth great shinobi war had come together to form what was known as the Great alliance, an union of the most powerful villages in the known world dedicated to maintaining the hard won peace brought by the end of the war.

The fourth great shinobi war as it had become known, had ended five years prior and despite only lasting roughly six months had resulted in the loss of three quarters of the Allied forces as well as tens of thousands of ordinary civilians.

The war was fought between the five great villages along with the land of iron and the renegade group known as Akatsuki and it had spread along the entire continent as both sides searched for the same person.

Naruto Uzumaki.

The damage from the war was great. The Akatsuki utilised a scorched earth technique using their white zetsu army and had scoured the continent in search of the nine tails, destroying entire cities in the process. The allied forces, despite great loss, had managed to destroy the Akatsuki's army and then find and eliminate the Akatsuki's leaders.

Before the war the Akatsuki had managed to obtain eight of the nine tailed beasts but had failed in their search for the nine tails. Despite years of searching no one had been able to find any clues for the whereabouts of the missing Jinchuuriki. The last thing anyone knew was that after the boy left konoha he had travelled east, caught a boat headed for the Mizu no Kuni and that was it.

Many thought that Naruto had died in the years since his disappearance for one reason or another but no sign of the kyuubi reforming had been found. Despite this anyone could agree that if he had been found then the Akatsuki would have likely obtained the kyuubi ending the war and the shinobi world as they knew it. As such five years after the war had ended Naruto remained the most wanted person in the world.

Despite the new era of relative peace and prosperity the shinobi way still continued with secrecy and deceit being at the forefront of the five great villages.

* * *

A dark-skinned man with shaggy white hair stood on the deck of a wooden ship, leaning on its mast with his arms crossed. The man had black eyes that look bored and wore a high-collared, sleeveless uniform of kumogakure. This man was Durai, the recently promoted Head ninja of the hidden cloud.

Despite his board look the man was actually quite focused, his eyes scanning the horizon every so often. Most of the crew on the ship were below deck trying to hide from the hot midday sun but Durai was far too tense to rest.

Durai made his way to the front of the ship so he could get a better look at the other boats surrounding him. There were 5 ships sailing east carrying a contingent of 100 shinobi lead by Durai. Their mission, to investigate rumours of an unknown group having settled on the islands of Yoshimaru to the pEast of the land of lightning

Flashback

"Do you understand Durai?"

"Yes Raikage-sama"

Durai stood at attention in front of the Raikage in his office. Both men were unusually serious as they stood in the office alone.

"If there are people on the island, the Lord of the land of lightning has ordered them to be removed… one way or another." Spoke the Raikage

"Understood Raikage-sama" replied Durai

Flashback end

Despite the unprecedented piece in the aftermath on the fourth shinobi war, the five great nations still seemed to have a certain level of secrecy despite the so called great alliance.

* * *

The village hidden in the clouds had continued its trend of militarisation and expansion as a way of rebuilding its strength lost in the war. The islands of Yoshimaru represented a new way of expanding trade relations with many of the far off nations such as the land of the moon and snow.

Durai understood the purpose of his mission, eliminate anyone who stood in the hidden clouds way, without damaging the great alliance.

In the village of Konohagakure, on the top floor of the Hokage's residence in the Hokage's office do we find a women with brown eyes, straight, shoulder-length blonde hair and a purple diamond in the middle of her forehead, wearing a grass-green haori with the kanji for "gamble" (賭, kake) written on the back. This women was Tsunade, one of the legendary sannin and the Fifth Hokage.

Tsunade was currently doing what she did almost everyday, something she hated, something she tried everything to avoid and yet something she still couldn't hide from. Paperwork.

Upon her desk among the many scrolls, files and stacks of papers were four framed photographs of the people she had deemed the most important people in her life. One was of her brother, Nawaki, a young boy who died in the second shinobi war far too young. Next to it was a photo of Dan, her lover, a man in his twenties who also died in the same war as her brother right in front of Tsunade as she tried to save him. Then there was a photo of Jiraiya, her teammate and best friend, he was still alive and continued to serve the village and the alliance by traveling the continent gathering information to help maintain the peace, where or how he found such information Tsunade had no idea.

The last photograph, placed in the centre of her desk, was of a young blond boy with whisker marks, the same boy who had changed her life and her entire view of the world. Naruto Uzumaki.

Tsunade breathed a large sigh as she took a break from the multiplying paperwork and stared at the pictures of her loved ones. It was perhaps the only thing she could do to take her mind off the affairs of the village and to relax a bit, besides drinking of course.

As her gaze found it's way to the picture of Naruto Tsunade a mind wandered to the war, to the search for the blond Jinchuuriki. Many of his friends had given up hope and simply believed he was dead but Tsunade knew better, she knew what knucklehead wouldn't just disappear like he did.

'Why did you leave... Naruto?' Questioned Tsunade in her thoughts as she turned her chair around to face the village.

Unlike the other hidden villages konoha was attacked directly in the war, with only a small garrison to defend it the village was under siege for five days before reinforcements came. Much of the outer village had been destroyed with many civilians killed in the chaos. As a result the leaf wasn't as busy as it once was, with the loss of one filth of the population it had become noticeably quieter in the years after the war.

A knock on the door brought Tsunade out of her thoughts as she turned her chair back. "Enter" she spoke with a firm voice, she was Hokage after all.

As the door swung open in entered a man with spiky silver hair, a mask covered his face with his Konoha headband over his left eye. The man wore a black flak jacket over a long-sleeve back shirt, dark blue pants, and fingerless gloves.

The man walked to stand in front Tsunade's desk and gave a respectful bow. "Lady Tsunade" greeted the man.

"Kakashi" was all Tsunade said as she accepted a scroll Kalshi handed to her and began to read its contents. A few minutes passed as she read the scroll and placed it on her desk to look at the silver hair man.

"Is there any other news you have for me?" Asked Tsunade

"As a matter of fact I do" replied Kakashi "a message from lord Jiraiya, it seems that Kumo has launched a few ships three days ago to reclaim the islands of Yoshimaru"

"How many shinobi?" Asked the blond Hokage

"100" replied Kakashi

"Mmmmmm" was all Tsunade said as she thought on this new information. The islands of Yoshimaru was a fairly large island chain to the East of the land of lightning, just past the land of water and was the furthest known land in the eastern sea.

"I wonder what the sudden interest is?" Questioned Tsunade.

"I wonder as well Tsunade-sama" said Kakashi. While the islands were the easternmost territory any of the elemental nations knew of, it was known that there were lands further east of the islands that no one had bothered to explore.

"To send a hundred shinobi seems a little odd don't you think, I doubt the Raikage has gained a thirst for exploration." Said Tsunade

"There have been rumours among traders from snow country, apparently there have been people and settlements spotted on the islands. Perhaps the Raikage is just protecting his territory?" Said kakashi

"And with 100 shinobi it seems the brute isn't asking them to leave" said Tsunade as she frowned a little. Despite the alliance she still didn't like the Raikage, he was far to forceful for her liking and lacked any sense of compassion for anyone other than his own people.

Kakashi just nodded his head as his eyes were drawn to the back of the picture frame on Tsunade's desk. Even without seeing it Kakashi knew whose picture it was.

Following his gaze Tsunade came to look at the photo of her favourite blond again. "Kakashi can I ask you something?" Said Tsunade her voice lacking the usual seriousness it held before

"Of course Tsunade-sama" replied Kakashi already having a guess as to what her question would be.

"Do you know why he left?" Asked Tsunade as she looked into Kakashi's visible eye.

It was a question that had troubled the Hokage and many of the blonds friends ever since his disappearance. It was known that in the days prior to his disappearance that Naruto had become increasingly aggressive and angry, yelling at the hospital staff for the slightest irritation. Other then Lee and Kakashi none of his friends had come to see him in the hospital and even Tsunade could admit that must of been upsetting.

"I wish I knew Tsunade-sama" came Kakashi's reply. Ever since the day Naruto had told him to fuck off Kakashi had refused to accept any new students and instead focusing on doing what he could to find Naruto. During the war he had lead the search to find Naruto, his tracking skills and personal relationship to him being the main reasons and after the war, Tsunade had named him commander of the anbu forces due to his distinguished career but also to allow him the resources to help maintain the search for the blond.

Despite winning the war the allied forces were unable to reclaim any of the lost biju, it was this fact that made Naruto, the last jinchuuriki, the most wanted person in the world as he contained the last of the biju and despite the alliance Tsunade was under no impression that any of her fellow Kage, save Gaara, would return Naruto to the hidden leaf.

With nothing left to report Tsunade dismissed Kakashi. Now left alone in her office Tsunade moved the scroll Kakashi had given her into her desk draw.

It was an invitation to the next annual five Kage summit. As a condition in the treaty that established the great alliance the five Kage agreed to meet every year to exchange information and to discuss whatever was on the agenda.

"I can't wait" Tsunade said sarcastically to herself as she returned to her paperwork.

'I wish you were here….. so I could hand the hat over to you, like you always wanted…. Naruto'

* * *

Flashback

The sky was pouring down upon them, the winds battered them from all directions, waves as tall as a house battered their nearly broken ship.

An army of blonds was running around tieing ropes, clearing debris and trying to help steer the ship from the larger waves.

A old man with a grey beard and bandana around his head stood at the helm of the ship, yelling orders at the blonds but the winds drowned out his voice. They wouldn't last much longer.

A young teen with blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker marks upon his cheeks was trying his best to hold on to the railing as his clones raced around him. His black cloak was torn to shreds and his orange jumpsuit seemed to barely hold onto his body.

In between the gale winds one of the clones managed to yell out and point towards the port side to a monster wave heading right for them. Everyone on the ship just stared at the wall of water as it raced towards the ship, there was nothing they could do.

In the short moments before the wave hit, the old man threw something at the boy. The whiskered teen was only able to look in shock at the old man as he gave the teen a smile. Then the wave hit.

All the clones dispelled instantly as the wave crushed the wooden ship, the mast fell as the ship went under and both the old man and the blond teen disappeared under the waves.

The blond held onto whatever the man had threw at him with all his strength as he felt the crushed debris from the ship sink beneath him into the depths of the ocean. He tried to look for the old man but he couldn't see anything below the waves.

As he was pulled to the surface the boy realised what the man had given him, it was a small circular buoy. All the boy could do was cry into the night as the storm continued. The waves battered his weak body as the cold water tried to pull him under.

He just held on as the storm carried him away to god knows where. He wouldn't die here, he had far too to much to live for.

Flashback end

His body shot up instantly, his deep blue eyes scanning the rooming panic. His body tense as sweat ran down his bare chest.

Realising where he was the young man sat up in his bed wearing nothing but orange boxer shorts. Pulling the red silk sheets off his body and moving the many purple silk pillows out of the way the young man arose to begin his morning routine.

'Just a dream' he thought to himself

The light of the morning sun peeked through the curtains into the room revealing long spiky blonde hair that hung to his waist and bold lines reminiscent of whiskers adorned his face. His tan, lean and chiseled body stretching to work out the kinks in his joints before he put a red silk robe on to cover his half naked body

Twenty minutes later the man stepped out of his room wearing a long dark red gown that went past his feet with gold trimming and long sleeves that covered his hands. His gown opened at the front revealing a black buttoned top and a large golden medallion that hung from his neck.

The man proceeded to walk the many corridors of the palace passing servants that stood to the side and bowed as he passed them.

Finally the man found himself in front of two massive wooden doors with two guards dressed in shining steel plate armour. The guards bowed low to the man as the proceeded to open the doors.

The doors revealed a great hall with large arched windows and seven stone columns surrounding what appeared to be a map painted unto the floor. Each pillar had a purple throne in front of it with the centre pillar, the one opposite the doors, having a much larger red throne that sat higher than the rest atop a short staircase.

The man was created by a large crowd that immediately bowed upon his entry, he proceeded to walk towards the red throne as he greeted the people assembled before him. As he sat upon his throne six more men appeared from the crowd and sat upon the remaining thrones in the room.

"Welcome everyone to this joyous occasion as we celebrate another year of peace and prosperity for our Empire, I have invited you all here today to celebrate the annual Dōngzhì Festival marking the official end of the war and to renew the bonds of friendship and unity shared by all regions of the Empire" the blond received loud applause from the crowd as he finished his short speech.

"Now shall we get down to business" he said to the men whom sat upon the other thrones. A servent walked from behind the blonde and began to read from a scroll announcing the days announcing the days proceedings.

As he leaned back into his throne the blond man gave a quiet sigh knowing he was in for a long day full of court politics, petty disputes and annoying nobles kissing his ass. An older man wearing a grey gown and black headdress who stood beside the blondes throne heard his sigh.

"Your majesty please, people are watching you" he whispered as quietly as he could.

The blond simply rolled his eyes as he pretended to listen to some man complaining about heavy taxes

' **Hehehe'** came a voice inside the blondes mind, **'don't start thinking of abdicating again'**

'Fuck of Kurama I'm not in the mood for you right now' though the blonde, not the least bit worried about hearing voices in his head.

' **Oh don't get snappy with me meatbag, your the one who wanted to become Emperor… Naruto'**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:They Came From The West

Islands of Yoshimaru

To the Elemental nations the islands of Yoshimaru was simply a deserted archipelago far off at the edge of the world, but to the people who lived there the islands were known as Lū dào.

The farmers and fishers who had lived on the islands arrived here over 60 years prior, originally as miners sent to colonise the islands and search for precious metals. Needless to say no gold or silver was found but instead the people were able to find a peaceful life far away from the wars of their homeland.

Today the people proudly count themselves as citizens of the Empire, in fact the islands were the first region to join the Emperor in his conquest and many had followed him east to conquer the many warring factions .

The current Lord of Lū dào, a man of 23 years whom was named Cheng Jian, he was well respected as a leader and a warrior by the people of Lū dào and so had no trouble governing the islands in the name of the Emperor. Cheng Jiang was currently sitting in his office in his modest two story home. He wore long golden robes that all nobility wore and had his black hair tied in a bun as was the custom for men.

'Let's see here… food shipments will arrive next week, the beach has been cleared and tourists seen to be coming in… we're gonna need more housing soon' he thought to himself.

Despite the relative isolation of Lū dào every year upon the winter solstice thousands of people flock to the archipelago for the annual Dōngzhì festival to commemorate the founding of the Empire. The islands of Lū dào had special significance for the festival for it was here the soon to be Emperor was swept up onto shore and found by an elderly family. The islands had since gained a semi mythical status as the birthplace of the Empire ever since.

Having finished his work the young lord decided to inspect the festival preparations personally and so began to walk through the small town that served as the islands' capital.

As he walked through the streets Cheng was greeted by a multitude of locals and tourists alike who all gave the young lord short bows as he strode past, soon he came upon the village centre and gazed up at the great bronze statue that stood there.

The statue was of a young teen maybe 15 years old, he wore armour and his sword drawn pointing east out to sea. The boy had long spiky hair that went to his back and whisker marks adorned his cheeks.

Cheng chuckled as he gazed upon the statue, for he knew that the man the statue resembled is still embarrassed that the people of Lū dào went to such an effort to immortalise him. The statue was in fact of the young Emperor at the beginning of his conquest when the people of Lū dào had declared him as their ruler after the young man had ousted a corrupt lord who ruled before him.

Cheng still remembers when all the islands' inhabitants cheered his name and how the young blond squirmed under the attention. Cheng was one of his biggest supporters and had fought alongside him through the entire war. As a reward for his loyalty Cheng Liang was made the lord of Lū dào.

"Lord Cheng! LORD CHENG" a man yelled as he rushed to the startled Cheng.

"A fleet of ships has been spotted to the west *huff huff* they're circling the island" the man said between breaths.

"Fuck" was all Cheng could say 'we're not expecting any shipments till next week' he thought to himself

"Are they pirates?" Cheng asked the man.

"I'm not sure lord Cheng they don't have a flag and I don't recognise the ships design" the man said.

"Well then..." said Cheng as he paused to regain his thoughts "...have the women and children head back to their homes, order all soldiers to meet me here in less the 10 minutes, any man of fighting age is to go the armoury and grab any weapon they know how to use" Cheng ordered as all the people rushed to their homes

'Who are these people' he thought as he hurried to his own home to gather his own armour and weapons. The people here were long accustomed to pirate raids but since the war the Imperial Navy had long since destroyed the many pirate fleets that had harassed the islands, this made Cheng especially wary. He could only hope they were just pirates.

Durai was considered to be a very calm person, rarely showing his emotions and taking a very bored outlook on life, but when he saw just how many people were inhabitanting the islands that he had been ordered to clear out, he felt extremely conflicted.

Kumo shinobi were instilled with an extreme sense of loyalty at a young age and were always taught to follow orders to the letter. Yet he had never been ordered to do anything like this.

The words of the Raikage echoed in his head.

' _If there are people on the islands, the Lord of the land of lightning has ordered them to be removed… one way or another.'_

"Teams 3 to 7 storm the village and clear the harbour, teams 1 and 2 keep circling the island and prevent anyone from escaping, capture and subdue as many as you can, if you identify any shinobi then you may use deadly force." He yelled to his men as they began to run across the water towards the island.

Despite his years of experience something just made Durai feel off about the whole situation, he had a hundred high ranking Kumo shinobi with him, and Kumo's fastest ships along with them and yet he felt as if he were a fresh genin on his first mission, like he had no clue of what he was doing.

"This is such a fucking drag" he said as he to drew his massive cleaver and charged with his fellow shinobi.

Konohagakure

Shikamaru Nara was not a proud man nor was he a weak man, when he was young all he wanted in life was to marry an average women, have an average career and have a son and a daughter before retiring when they came of age. Sadly nothing like that came to fruition, instead he married a strong and stubborn women by the name of Temari, they hadn't any children yet, instead they cared for their adopted daughter Mirai, his late sensei's daughter who lost both her parents in the war.

In the fourth shinobi war he earned himself great distinction when he took command of the allied fourth division and broke the siege of Konoha, pushing the enemy from the land of Fire and giving the allied shinobi their first major victory.

Now he was one of the leading shinobi of Konoha with the rank of Jounin and the head liaison of the great alliance for Konoha and the land of Fire.

His father had died during the war as did many of the clan heads, being prime targets to cripple Konoha's war effort, so along with his many other responsibilities Shikamaru was also the head of one of Konoha's most influential clans.

After the siege of Konoha Shikamaru was tasked with leading the search for Naruto Uzumaki, being that he was a known friend of Naruto when they were Genin and for his keen strategic mind. He lead his teammates Kankuro of Suna, Hinata Hyuga and Samui from Kumo as scoured the entire continent finding no trace of the whispered blonde. To this day Shikamaru still ponders on where the troublesome blonde could have disappeared to.

After he abandoned Konoha Tsunade thought it prudent to let Naruto's friends know of his status as a Jinchuuriki as well as his hard life growing up in the village. To say the least any thoughts of Naruto being traitor disappeared and in all honesty Shikamaru could completely understand why the blonde left. But some of his comrade such as Kiba and Ino didn't share his sentiment.

'Now's not the time' Shikamaru thought to himself as he proceeded to walk down one of Konoha's many streets on his way to the Hokage Tower. He wore the new standard black Konoha shinobi vest with the black pants, sandals and a navy blue shirt with his shinobi headband tied around his left bicep.

He looked around gazing upon the many newly constructed buildings the made up the village centre.

Since the end of the war the hidden leaf had undergone a massive rebuilding project and made great efforts to modernise and defend the village. The walls stood twice as high with tall guard towers looking over the forest, larger apartment complexes dotted the village centre and all the clan compounds had been moved to the outer of the village make space and maintain privacy. Despite the relatively low population of the village compared to other villages Konoha has been able to steadily replenish its ranks.

Soon Shikamaru found himself inside the Hokage tower waiting outside the Hokage's office. He knocked on the door and entered upon hearing a firm "Enter".

"Lady Tsunade you wished to see me?" Sad Shikamaru after he respectfully bowed to his Hokage.

"Yes I did, could you close the door" The Hokage replied giving him a stern look.

'wonder what's happened' thought Shikamaru as he saw the look Tsunade gave him

As soon as he closed the door the room lighted up with an array if inscriptions and seals covered the walls and ceiling. Now Shikamaru realised how serious she was as he recognised the special seal that was place under Tsunade's desk that sealed off the whole office, preventing any would be eavesdroppers from snooping in.

"Yesterday Kakashi reported to me that Kumo has sent a hundred high caliber shinobi to the islands of Yoshimaru" said Tsunade as she finished signing a large ornate scroll.

"Yoshimaru? What's so important about there?" Came Shikamaru's reply

"Nothing really which is why I'm suspicious, I don't need to tell you that tension still remains between the great nations and for the Raikage to send so many shinobi to the edge of the world has me worried" said Tsunade as she lent back in her chair.

"I'm sending you to Kumogakure for two weeks on a diplomatic mission, officially you'll be there to renew trade agreements and support for the alliance" said Tsunade as she handed the Nara the large scroll.

"Unofficially you want me to investigate this Yoshimaru business and find out why Kumo has taken such an interest" said Shikamaru as he look over the contents of the scroll.

"Yes" was all Tsunade said.

"I don't think Kumo would take kindly to this" said Shikamaru as he closed the scroll and tied the silk bands holding it together.

"The rest of the alliance doesn't take kindly to Kumo colonising it's overseas territories and continuing to militarise" said Tsunade with a frown on her face.

"Looks like some people don't get the meaning of peace" the Nara said sarcastically.

"If there's nothing else I'll be on my way Lady Hokage." Said Shikamaru as he bowed low.

Tsunade simply waved Shikamaru out of her office and deactivated the barrier.

Now alone the Godaime Hokage opened the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a bottle of expensive looking Sake and a shot glass.

'I'm too old for this shit' Tsunade thought to herself, deciding she was done with filing the mountain of paperwork that sat on her desk.

Being a shinobi wasn't exactly the safest profession a person could choose, from the age of 5 aspiring children were trained to become warriors and killers. Death was a part of the shinobi life and as such each shinobi village had their own customs for honouring their fallen comrades.

In Konoha all shinobi that died in action were granted a traditional military funeral with full honours. Traditionally their loved ones would share a moments silence at sunset on the day of the funeral in remembrance of the deceased.

The fallen Shinobi's names would also be carved into the memorial stone so that their sacrifice shall be remembered for future generations.

The Konoha cemetery was a quiet place with many people coming and going day by day to pay respects to their loved ones. On this particular day one could find a young women barely twenty years old wearing a sleeveless red dress with white trimmings and a white circular design and had the standard black shinobi sandals. She had bright pink hair that parted revealing a blue diamond marking on her forehead. The woman was carrying a large bouquet of flowers as she walked past the graves of Konoha's fallen.

The woman's name was Sakura Haruno, Jounin of Konoha and the apprentice of Tsunade the Godaime Hokage.

As she walk past Sakura placed flowers upon the graves of her friends and family that had died in the war.

Both her father Kizashi and her mother Mebuki, whom were both forced out of retirement during the siege of Konoha and sadly died defending the village. Asuma Sarutobi, one of the villages finest, who died fighting the Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu at the beginning of the war. Kurenai Yuhi, a roll model for many young kunoichi, who died during the siege defending her daughter and other patients when the hospital was attacked not even a week after she gave birth to her daughter. These were but a few of the fallen shinobi people that she knew.

As she continued walking Sakura steered into the forest next to the cemetery until she found a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a small plaque carved in a stone buried in the ground. The plaque read the name of a person she wanted to see more than anything, a person she missed dearly.

Naruto Uzumaki

Traitors never had their names placed in the memorial stone nor were they given any funerary rights, still Tsunade had given her permission to have a small sanctuary for her lost teammate.

She knelt in front of the stone and placed her last flower, a rose, on the grass.

"Hey Naruto" Sakura said quietly. She paused for a moment as she gazed at his name.

"I've been promoted again to head of the village hospital…. Kakashi-sensei not long returned from his mission to the land of water, he's still the same as always" she said with a smile. "Other than that nothing's changed"

"Tsunade-sama still keeps your picture on her desk… she really misses you, I heard her talking to herself yesterday saying that you should be doing all the paperwork and not her." She chuckled to herself as she twisted her legs and sat down in the grass.

"I miss you too, I wish you were here with us as everyone grows up. Ino and Sai are getting married soon and Choji's been seeing a Kumo nin named Kurai, they seem real happy…" she picked up a blade of grass and fiddled with it, thinking of what else she could tell him.

"Everyone's getting married and soon there will be children running around…. Sasuke hasn't been around lately, he's still wondering the world looking for you" she lowered her head, her hair shadowing her face.

"I wish he'd come back home and find some peace, I mean if Hinata couldn't find you then I don't know you could." She spoke as she placed her hand on the stone

"You know as kids I was such a little brat, I wish I had the sense to see how hard life was for you, or notice how everyone glared at you… how did you cope with it… living so lonely, I wish I could've been there for you like you were for me... even if you were in a **Henge**." Her voice was noticeably quieter and a stray tear fell from her eye, she thought she was done crying over this.

Images flashed in her mid as she remembered their time in team7, she remembered when they took their true genin test and how Naruto was tied upside down to a post, she remembered when the fought Zabuza and Haku and how afraid she was, she remembered the time when her and her teammates tried all day to see what was underneath Kakashi's mask, and she remembered all the times the blonde had asked her out only for her to blatantly refuse and hit him over the head.

"I wish it didn't take you leaving and a world war for me to realise how important you were to me…" the words were caught in her throat as tears fought to burst from her eyes.

"I wish I could tell you how much you still mean to me, how much I miss you… and…. I wish I could tell you …that I lo…" her voice failed her as she began to sob to herself, guilt and sorrow getting the best of her.

Moments past as the pink haired women struggled to contain her emotions. When she had regained her composure Sakura wished the former comrade goodbye and began to walk home.

Despite how things had turned out she was thankful for what she had, she was lucky that none of her friends had died during the war, maybe the gods had taken pity or an author didn't know how to write a story without his favourite characters.

She was thankful that Sasuke had come out of his darkness. He helped a lot during the war to fight the Akatsuki and was able to kill his brother because of it. When he learned what happened to Naruto Sakura remembered how shaken he was, and still he blamed himself for it. As such Sasuke had exiled himself so he could search for his missing teammate

Who knew team 7 would become so fucked up.

Lū dào

These weren't pirates, these invaders were armed soldiers, they lite the buildings on fire and they took anyone they could, they ran across water and butchered the ordinary men that tried to defend their homes.

All day he had tried to defend his home but all he did was send good men to their deaths, he heard the children screaming and the women crying as they tried to run from the invaders. They were caught and simply tied up and taken away.

The twenty soldiers he had stationed on the island to police the village were able to help but they too were eventually overwhelmed.

It didn't take long for lord Cheng to realise that they had no hope of driving these people away. So here he was running through the trees with two soldiers in red armour and a young boy in tow.

They stopped when the reached a hidden beach flanked by two high cliffs and a small fishing boat anchored in the shallows.

Cheng turned to the young boy, his nephew, who looked as if he was going to faint.

"Gen listen to me" he said to the boy who had his hands on his knees and breathed heavily.

"GEN LISTEN TO ME" Cheng shouted this time getting the boys attention, he then took out a scroll from under his robes and held it out to the boy "take this scroll and take it too lord Huang Xiaoming in Xinjiang, tell him what happened and tell him to bring help" he said as he ushered the poor boy to the boat

"What about you? What about everyone here" cried the young Gen as he was lifted out of the water and placed into the boat.

"We'll stay here and do what we can, you need to get moving" was all Cheng could say as the two soldiers cut the rope holding the boat onto the shore

"It'll take you two days to get to Xinjiang maybe three, just remember to head east, follow the sun rise not the sunset, don't drink sea water and don't stop rowing" said one of the soldiers as he gave a strong push sending the boat carrying the crying boy out to sea

All Gen could see as he rowed away from his home was Lord Cheng and the soldiers head back into the trees and the column of smoke that rose from the village the into the evening sky.

He wiped away his tears and began to tow with all his strength, to think how excited he was for the festival tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Catalyst

The Imperial City of Dǎo Shì

Standing in the heart of the young Empire, built upon an island surrounded by the Zhàn lake, stood the Empire's capital, the city of Dǎo Shì.

The city itself was centuries old. According to legend it was built by a great King to protect young wife who was with child. When the king went to war and died in battle his wife was taken by despair and she lost their child, overcome by sorrow wife wept so much that a lake formed from her tears so that none may try and love her again.

Despite the story of the cities founding, Dǎo Shì had a long history being the capital of many previous Kingdoms and Empires. So it didn't take much thought for Naruto name it as his Capital. The city was large bustling metropolis, it had strong walls and high towers, the Zhān lake made it easy to defend and its central location made it perfect for administration.

The lands surrounding the lake were also quiet fertile and earned the city, and Naruto, a lot of revenue from crop yields and livestock.

The Empire itself was divided into seven regions or kingdoms, which were then divided further into provinces. As you would expect each province was ruled by a Lord and each Kingdom was ruled by a King, whom all governed in the name of the Emperor. The Emperor himself ruled his own kingdom, mainly the valleys and plains surrounding Zhàn lake, so as he wouldn't have to rely on his lord and kings for income.

When he established the Empire, Naruto made great efforts to ensure the ruling class, which he ensured was made up of capable people who were loyal to him alone, was able to maintain relative autonomy so as to better govern the culturally distinct regions and yet still preserve the absolute power of the Emperor.

The feudal system, that had existed for millennia, worked well to do this, but to ensure the aristocracy didn't forget his power, Naruto declared that twice a year, upon the summer and winter solstice, all the ruling kings and lords shall come to the capital to advise the Emperor on the state of affairs and bring forth and disputes to be resolved.

And so here we see Naruto Uzumaki, First Emperor of the Uzumaki Dynasty, dressed in his long black robes and red shirt, his long blonde hair hanging freely, getting very irritated as he sat upon his red throne in his great hall surrounded by his pampered and selfish nobility and listening to two of his lords squabble over a disputed border and a few hectares of land.

"Your majesty please, that land has belonged to my family for generations, Lord Chu is out of line claiming it for himself" Came the plea of a old man dressed in fine purple robes with a long gray moustache that went down to his waist and his hair in a traditional bun

"Your majesty I am simply exercising my legal rights, when the borders were drawn the lands south of the Dào shí river where made part of the province of Qín" was the reply of his rival whom wore long indigo robes with white trimmings, he also had on a black headless and two black bangs framing his face.

Both men were currently standing in the centre of the hall over the large map painted unto the floor, particularly over the border between their provinces in the North Western part of the Empire.

"As you can see Your Majesty both Lord Chu and Lord Sheng are quiet passionate about this land, I feel like a mother unable to pull apart her spoilt children fighting over the last dumpling" Came the tort remark from an elderly man. Everyone chuckled at his light hearted barb despite the fact the as king he should have resolved this issue himself.

Zhou Fu was the mans name and he was The King of Wù. He wore long orange robes with his gray hair in a bun and sat third to Naruto's right in the circle of Thrones. The hall itself was specially designed so that each king who sat the circle of thrones was closest to their respective Kingdom on the map that painted unto the floor.

'Lazy old bastard' thought Naruto as he leveled a glare at the grinning King. The King and Emperor were in fact good friends as if any of his other lords had shirked their duties like this Naruto would have simply thrown them into the lake

"Well i'm happy to help you in this matter Your grace, at your age it's understandable for you to want to relax a bit instead of burdening yourself with such petty things" said Naruto as the crowd chuckled louder this time

"Lord Chu I understand that the lands were given to you when I drew the borders and Lord Sheng I also understand that the lands have belonged to your family for generations and so with that in mind, would Lord Chao step forward."

A young man with jet black hair tied in a bun wearing light blue robes with gold trimming stepped out of the crowd from behind King Zhou.

"Seeing as the land is also along the border of you province I declare it under your control" both Lord Chu and Lord Sheng screamed in protest as the crowd laughed at their actions.

"Your majesty this is preposterous!"

"I can't believe this, Chao has no claim!"

Both men continued to protest as Naruto could feel his patience wearing thin.

Both men felt themselves nearly faint as the Emperor leveled a glare at them with red slitted eyes, his whisker marks were more pronounced and the whole crowd fell silent under the pressure the blonde gave off.

The two lords simply bowed as low as they could and proceeded back into the crowd.

"Let me make this very clear" Naruto said loudly to the people before him, even the Old King Zhou was sweating under the Emperors gaze.

"I have no time for pathetic squabbles such as this, the next one of you to waste my time over a few hectares of land you will be thrown into the lake."

Normally he was able to control his anger better than this but between planning for the festival, dealing with the nobles and governing his own lands Naruto had become quite easy to anger lately.

It wasn't easy being Emperor

Xinjiang

After the islands of Lū dào, the Bay of Jing was the next region to fall under Naruto's Banner during his conquest. The port City of Xinjiang served as the provincial capital and was the site of one of Naruto's most stunning victories.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the young man spawned thousands of shadow clones to storm the city, this earned him the attention of the great lord of the continent and would make the beginning of the war of conquest.

Lord Huang Xiaoming was made lord of the province of Jing, being the nephew of the previous ruler and the only one of his family to accept defeat at the hands of the young Blonde.

Lord Huang considered himself a pragmatic man and followed a strict moral code, he swore an oath of loyalty to his Emperor despite his family's defeat and he would remain loyal to his dying day.

He was immensely grateful to the Emperor, for any other victorious Lord would have killed him along with the previous ruling family.

Currently Lord Huang was in his study signing some documents and looking over reports for the shipments destined for Lū dào. He was exempted from traveling to the capital as was Lord Chen so that the may both oversee the influx of visitors traveling to Lū dào. Lord Huang had even been given command of the 3rd Imperial Fleet by the Emperor so as to ensure the safety of the travelers.

He had forgone the tradition robes that the Aristocracy wore and instead he wore a simple blue silk gown and his brown hair hung loose to his shoulders.

He had a long scar that went down over his left cheek, for as a young man because he was simply the local lords nephew he was instead put to work as a soldier.

He had fought in many battles earning himself great merit in his family as a reliable commander, and after his defeat by Naruto he followed the blonde to war, commanding the Blondes ever growing army.

An urgent knock on his study door brought Huang's attentions away from his work.

"What is it" he said with a firm voice.

A servant in gray robes stepped through the door

"Lord Huang a boy was found washed up on the shore an hour ago, he was found with a scroll marked with the insignia of Lord Chen of Lū dào" the servant said as he handed Huang a small scroll.

Without waiting Huang snatched the scroll and quickly opened it.

" _We are under attack_

 _The village has been taken_

 _Lū dào has fallen_

 _Send help"_

'What…?' Huang was shocked and took a minute to regain his bearings.

'It couldn't be pirates? No the people of Lū dào could drive pirates back easily… there's been no reports unknown ships headed west for the islands and the western sea has been under constant patrol…'

Thought Huang as his servant waited eargerly for his orders.

"Have all naval ships docked at the harbours prepare to depart in an hour, all soldiers in the city are to board the ships and prepare for battle, send word out to all naval vessels on patrol to set sail for Lū dào…" Huang paused for a brief moment as he looked over the scroll again.

"...Send word to the Emperor of what happened and a copy of this scroll immediately"

"Yes Lord Huang" the servant said as he took back the scroll and rushed out the door.

Lū dào

Whoever these people were they definitely weren't shinobi. When they first stormed the islands three days ago they met no resistance apart from a few shocked fisherman.

But when they reached the main village they saw a group of twenty soldiers wearing red leather and steel plate armour standing in their way. Large rectangular shields that stood from the ground to their shoulders, with spears poking over their shields and swords sheathed by their sides.

Now normally such trivial weapon wouldn't have worried Durai but these… whatever they were… had a few surprises up their sleeves.

They used some technique that created a visible chakra barrier over shields and when they linked their shields together the Kumo nin were forced to halt their advance.

Twenty three of his hundred shinobi had fallen to to these warriors, their chakra shields wouldn't budge against Kunai, explosive tags, lightning techniques or anything the Kumo nin could throw at them. Then when they matched forward in unison they threw their spears at such speed the Kumo nin could barely dodge.

Durai's men were only able to take them down when the soldiers broke formation and charged with their swords that glowed blue with chakra. Even then they still managed to kill some of Kumos finest Jounin.

After they took down their warriors the shinobi simply captured as many of the villagers that they could. Some of the men tried to fight with sword or spears but they posed no threat.

Despite being surprised of how many people actually live in the islands of Yoshimaru, despite the fact his men were taken down by swords and spears, despite the fact he had to practically torch the village to herd the people so they could be captured. One thing shocked Durai to his core

The fucking statue

When he commanded the the allied first division, he like all the commanders was given a detailed description of the appearance, abilities and personality of the alliances number one target.

Naruto Uzumaki

A teenaged boy with spiky blonde hair, blue eyes, tan skin, medium height and three whisker like birthmarks that adorned each cheek.

So when Durai and his men found a twelve foot bronze statue standing in the village centre, depicting young man dressed in the same armour those soldiers wore, with long spiky hair and three whisker mark on each his cheek questions started popping into his head.

Durai could already feel the headache coming on from when he would have to tell the Raikage.

'Fuck me why couldn't Omoi take this mission'

Kumogakure

It was three days travel from Konoha to Kumo and Shikamaru was exhausted.

He had already seen the Raikage and handed over the scroll Tsunade had given him, now he was lying in his hotel bed thinking on how he would go about his second mission the Hokage had given him.

He had been told that envoys from Iwa and Suna where on the way and should be arriving soon.

'Guess that mean Konoha isn't the only village to know of Yoshimaru'

Shikamaru guesses that if the other villages were as suspicious as Konoha was then Iwa would be more forward and just ask A why he sent a hundred Jounin to the middle of nowhere, the Tsuchikage wasn't one for small talk. Suna on the other hand he suspected of actually doing a little bit of espionage so all he had to do was stay close and see if he could learn what happened.

As far as anyone was concerned Konoha was on an annual diplomatic mission and knew nothing of Kumos activities outside of the alliance, Iwa and Suna on the other hand had surprisingly sent envoys out of nowhere for no apparent reason other then to stop by and say hello.

Shikamaru gave a large sigh as he relaxed after his journey. It wasn't often he could just lay down and relax with all his many responsibilities. His wife most of all was always on his back

" _Did you finish your paperwork?_ _!_ _"_

" _Did you feed the deer?_ _!_ _"_

" _Did you make Mirai her lunch?_ _!_ _"_

" _Do I have to do everything around her?_ _!_ _"_

" _If you don't hurry up and come home right now I'll get your mother and we'll both kick your ass_ _!_ _"_

Yes Shikamaru was glad to have a break from his nagging wife and stressful life.

"Troublesome bitch…"

Somewhere in the land of Fire

A tall man with jet black walked down a dirt road. He wore a long black cloak over a long-sleeved shirtthat covered both his hands, he wore a pair of brown leather belts with a black sheath for his sword, a brown shuriken holster clung to his waist and hs feet wore brown shinobi boots.

He walked calmly and slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. His eyes were as black as his hair with his right eye concealed by his fringe.

This man was Sasuke Uchiha, a man synonymous with redemption although not a lot of people liked him.

When he was a boy his elder brother, Itachi Uchiha slaughter their entire clan and left only Sasuke alive

When he was just thirteen he abandoned his home village of Konoha for the promise of power, power he would use to avenge his family and kill his brother

When he was 17 he killed his mentor, Orochimaru when the snake tried to take his body.

Soon after he ran into the midst of battle in hopes of having a better chance of finding Itachi.

During the war he found Itachi and finally managed to kill the elder Uchiha. Barely

Afterwards he was Captured by the Akatsuki and learnt of the truth of his Clans downfall.

Then he was recaptured by the allies and was told what happened to his former teammate, Naruto Uzumaki.

These revelations allowed him to activate his Mongekyou sharingan and in his anger and grief he broke out of prison and sought out Danzo Shimura, whom he killed.

He then helped the allies to defeat the remaining Akatsuki members including the leader 'Madara Uchiha'.

After the war he had his brothers eyes transplanted into himself. For his help in the war the Alliance granted him leniency and when knowledge of Danzo's past misdeeds was made public he was offered a place in Konoha. Which he refused.

Blaming himself for the disappearance of his friend, the last Uchiha exiled himself in search of his lost teammate.

And so here we find the Last Uchiha, one of the most powerful people in the Elemental nations, wondering the countryside searching lost rumours and made up stories.

Suddenly Sasuke paused and in one fluid motion he turned around, drew his sword and blocked a shuriken aimed for his head.

His sharingan active, Sasuke scanned his surroundings and within seconds he found his attacker hiding in the trees

Quickly Sasuke **Shunshin'd** to his opponent and used his sword to try and decapitate his would be assassin. His enemy was quick and revealed a kunai in his right hand ready to blocked the attack.

Just as the blades were going to connect, Sasuke blurred out of sight. His attacker only had time to widen their eyes before the tip of a sword burst through their chest.

Sasuke now behind the attacker simply withdrew his sword from the ninjas torso and in one motion sliced his head off.

The attacker, now revealed to be wearing a grey cloak and hood that shadowed his face, he had black hair and his lifeless eyes were a dull green.

As Sasuke approach the dead body he noticed a snake tattoo on the dead mans left wrist.

This man was once a follower of Orochimaru he concluded. For after Sasuke had killed the Sannin and Kabuto shortly after many of his experiments and subordinates went crazy without their leader and turned on each other.

Even five years after the fact followers of the snake still went after him and every time he killed them without a second thought.

Despite his redemption he was still a cold blooded killer, that would never change.

After cleaning his blade of the mans blood, Sasuke lit the corpse on fire to dispose of it.

Finished with the ten minute interruption Sasuke just continued walking down the dirt road into the sunset.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Retaken

The Imperial City of Dǎo Shì

Similar to the Shinobi of the Elemental Nations, the warriors of the Empire utilised their internal energies to achieve great physical feats and attain special abilities. Yet unlike shinobi whom first learnt to mold chakra from the teachings of the Rikudo Sennin, an Imperial soldiers didn't use their internal physical and spiritual energies, instead they learnt from a young age to channel the natural energy of the world itself through their bodies and create Chi.

Through the use of Chi a person could lift objects ten times greater than their own bodies and run for miles on end faster then the wind. The greater a person's ability with Qi, the easier it was to channel it through other objects such as weapons and armour and even control it outside of their bodies.

Many great users of Qi have been known to manipulate the elements, destroy mountains and even fly.

According to legend the first user of Chi, a monk, learnt to channel the energy of the world by listening to the trees and the birds that's lived near his monastery. This monk, whose name was forgotten to history, passed on this knowledge as a way from r others to learn to connect to nature.

Sadly as the centuries past the monks teachings were corrupted and the use of Chi evolved into a weapon of war used by the ever warring Kingdoms of the continent.

Wǔshì warriors, the profession soldiers of the Empire, trained from the age of twelve to learn how to create and utilize Chi. Before the Empire many of the Wǔshì come from noble families as relatives of their local Lords, this was to ensure the loyalty and obedience of any armies most valuable and dangerous fighters.

When he established the Imperial Army, Naruto did away with the old custom and instead ordered the construction of military academies in all the major cities of the Empire. He actively promoted any and all young men **and** women to sign up and become valued members of the army.

The main reason this was done was so Naruto could build and maintain a strong, loyal and disciplined military to control his vast Empire.

Still, many of his high ranking Generals and Lieutenants were still apart of the Aristocracy, being relatives of the ruling Lords and Kings.

Nevertheless Naruto was proud of his Military.

Before he even became Emperor Naruto sought to simplify the complicated command structure of his forces. The Imperial Army was divided into 10 thousand strong legions which were commanded by his Generals. The legions were then divided into divisions of 1 thousand soldiers lead by Lieutenants and then into 1 hundred man companies lead by their Captains.

The 1st, 2nd, 5th and 7th legions, which were made up of the soldiers who fought for Naruto directly in the war, where spaced throughout the Empire, acting as strong military presence throughout the provinces and serving as a way for Naruto to intimidate any of his rebellious subjects.

The remaining legions were stationed in some of the major cities, training the armies led experienced recruits.

The 10th legion, Naruto's personal legion, was stationed in the Capital under the Emperors personal supervision as their recruits were being trained. This was so Naruto was always able to quickly gather a force to respond to any immediate threat, as well as a welcome distraction from the day to day politics of Government.

Today we find the young Emperor, dressed in his personal black plated armour under a black cape with a golden whirlpool that hung behind him, sparing with a few of his soldiers in a courtyard as a group of his advisors yelled at their ruler trying to get his attention.

"Your majesty, please, what shall we do about our grain stores, we won't have enough for the Festival and to last us through winter!" one of the advisors yelled quiet frantically, unsure if the Emperor heard as the Blonde dodged a spear and ducked under a sword aimed for his head.

"I ordered three shipments scheduled for next month from Lou province yesterday" Naruto replied as used his sword to parry another sword strike and kick the offending man out of the circle they stood in.

"Your majesty what of the Festival itself, the palace decorations aren't finished and the feast preparations haven't even begun!" Came the cry from another advisor

"I put Lady Sui in charge of the decorations and the cooks will begin tomorrow morning so none of the food will spoil before the feast" said Naruto as he charged at one of his opponents using the blunt edge of his sword to deflect a spear thrust and disarm the young soldier.

"Your majesty you have a cabinet meeting in less than an hour shouldn't you be getting ready?!"

Naruto simply parried another sword strike, used the pommel of his sword to hit his last opponent in the side of head helmet and grabbing the stunned man by the scruff of his collar before lifting the man off the ground holding his sword to his throat.

"The meeting starts in about 50 mins which is just enough time to get changed" was all Naruto said as he lowered the poor man down to the ground before bowing respectfully to his opponents who returned the gesture.

In light of his busy schedule the golden Haired ruler always made time to spare with his helped him keep in shapes as well as get to know the new soldiers getting trained in the Capital.

"As you can see gentleman I'm very well on top of things so if you don't mind I'll be headed back to the palace." Said Naruto as he sheathed his sword, his advisors simply bowed before leaving the courtyard.

As Naruto began his trek to the city centre and back to his palace he was greeted by a multitude of of people whom bowed respectfully as the Emperor passed by.

The palace itself was the biggest landmark of the city, made from magnificent red stone it stood proudly on the northern side of the Island built to the very edge of th. The palace gates soon opened for the Emperor as he promptly made his way to his personal quarters in order to prepare for what he knew to be a long and boring meeting.

Just as he neared the entrance to his quarters an elderly lady dressed in a long blue dress that exaggerated her rear end and her gray hair tied into pigs tails rushed frantically to the Emperor.

"Your majesty! Something terrible has happened *huff* *huff*" the lady spoke quickly before kneeling over trying to catch her breath.

"Lady Sui what's wrong?" Naruto said worryingly, wondering what in the world had gone so wrong for Lady Sui to be running around the palace.

"The... *huff* *huff* ...messenger just came ...*huff* *huff*... from Xinjiang, we …*huff* … they… *huff* *huff*..." was all the elderly woman could say in between deep breaths as she tried to say what she wanted to say.

"What's wrong? What's happened?" Naruto questioned again as he tried to help the poor women so she could speak.

Now breathing normally LadySui stood up to speak "We just received news… that..." Sui paused as she fought back tears. Whatever it was it definitely wasn't good.

"I'm sorry your majesty but… the crystal chandeliers won't make it in time for the festival."

Naruto simply deadpanned at what she said, from the way she had ran to him he thought there was an invasion or something.

It wasn't until later that Naruto realised something, he had already paid for the fucking chandeliers.

45 minutes later

In a large windowless room, Naruto sat at the head of a long wooden table that was covered with papers and scroll. There sat 7 people including Naruto around the table the table. The emperor wore a long Dark blue robe while each of his ministers was dressed in simple dark gray robes with white trimmings and their hair tied in traditional buns.

The room was rather plain looking with a glowing white crystal floating near the middle of the ceiling. The doors were closed and stood to the opposite end of the room from where Naruto sat with armed guards either side.

Unlike his many Lords whom usually always wore the same style of elaborate dress, which showed their status of Nobility, Naruto's ministers wore rather plain clothing, denoting their status as servants or advisors.

There were six ministers in total, each being personally selected by the Emperor for their own personal merits rather than social status.

Li Keqiang was the Emperor's minister for Agriculture, he sat to Naruto's right and spotted a black haired Goatee

Zhang Gaoli, whom was the Emperor's treasurer, sat to Naruto's left he was plain looking and wore large circular glasses over his face.

Liu Yandong the minister for Education, sat second on the Emperors right and was an incredibly old women with gray hair and a wrinkled face.

Guo Sheng, a young man with spiky brown hair, was the minister for justice and sat second to the Blonde rulers left.

Zhu Lin, the minister of commerce, was a young women with blonde hair not unlike Naruto's whom sat third on the left

Xin Hao, the Imperial Chancellor, sat on the opposite end of table from Naruto with his back to the door. He had jet black hair with a fine moustache that hung from his lip.

The Cabinet served as the bureaucratic arm of the Empire, implementing the Emperor's policies, carrying out his orders, collecting taxes and so on.

"Your majesty I must ask, may I ask why does Lady Sui feel the need to spend half the annual budget on such preposterous things like bone candelabras, 6 foot tall ice sculptures, silk ribbon confetti and a tank full of blue Ascidians? What even is an Ascidian?!" The Treasure said as he looked over the palace expenditures for the decorations and festival preparations.

"I believe that they're a kind of exploding sea mammal if I'm not mistaken" said Xin, not lifting his gaze from the reports he was reading.

"I'll be sure to talk with Lady Sui about her expenses… and her exploding fish" said Naruto, as he began to regret giving Sui free rein for the festival.

"Your majesty could you please sign this, its for the construction of a bronze statue of your likeness in Bei Wan town square" Zhu Lin said as she handed the Emperor a piece of paper

"For god's sake isn't there enough statues of me in every city?" Said the Blonde

"According to the people of Bei Wan… No" said the Commerce minister rather plainly as the Emperor took the document and signed it.

This was the general flow of the meeting for the next half an hour or so. His Imperial Ministers would hand Naruto various report and documents to sign, with the treasurer questioning over the multitude of expenses for the upcoming festival.

"We'll seeing as I have another meeting with the lords and kings of the Empire I think that would be all for today" Naruto said he rose from his chair.

The other occupants of the room stood as well, but before the Blonde Emperor could leave, the Chancellor decided to bring up one more thing.

"Your majesty before we're dismissed may I inquire into one last topic of interest?" Said Xin

"What is it?" Questioned Naruto

"King Chun of Tian, King Lū of Kan and various other lords have sent petitions in regards to...um… your future wife?"

Naruto simply rolled his eyes at this, the question of whom would become Empress was apparently all the nobility could gossip about.

"For fuck sake" Naruto whispered under his breath "Just tell them that I'm a little too busy to be concerned about _that_ right now"

"As you wish your Majesty" Xin said as he gave a bow.

"Now would you all follow me to the great hall so we can get the last meeting of the day finished with" and with that the Emperor exited the cabinet room followed by his Ministers.

When Naruto first arrived on this side of the world, he was quite taken by the many strict traditional that all levels of society followed. For example the style and type clothes one wore was determined by their birth status, noble wore long silk robes whilst comets wore simple shirts and trousers.

A women's hair was expected to be styled in some way while a man's hair was usually tied in a bun and. Naruto didn't bother with this one simply cause he could be bothered with doing his hair normally unruly hair every day.

But one of the most important traditions in the entire continent was that all able bodied young men and women were to be married by the time they were twenty one. Naruto who was approaching his twenty first birthday was constantly bombarded by marriage offers from the many eager ladies of the Aristocracy.

Normally a person's parents would be the ones to find suitable candidates for marriage. In the nobility this normally lead to arranged marriages for political gain.

Since Naruto had no parents around, many eager members of the nobility had taken it upon themselves to find the most suitable women for the young Emperor.

It was quite ironic, as a child in Konoha Naruto did anything he could to gain the attention of his female peers. Now he had half of an Empire that was trying to marry him.

Konohagakure

A young women, with long black hair and white pupiless eyes was walking the streets of the hidden leaf village. It was late in the afternoon and in the last got of the setting sun she wore a lavender sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was tied with a dark purple obi around her waist. She wore a pair of short dark navy shorts with thigh-high stockings as well as black high-heeled shinobi boots.

This woman was Hinata Hyuga, head of the Hyuga Clan, Jounin of Konohagakure and one of the most powerful women the village.

Hinata was currently making her way towards the village centre, in particular the Hokage Tower.

Soon she had arrived at the door to the Hokages office, and after knocking she was ushered in.

"Lady Tsunade how can I help you?" Said Hinata as she approached the desk and gave a respectful bow.

"You could sort out all this paperwork for me"

Answered Tsunade rather sarcastically and without raising her head away from the many stacks of documents that cluttered her desk. Her green Haori was placed over her chair and her hair seemed a little out of place. Obviously she wasn't have a good day.

"I would gladly like to help but unfortunately I have my own paperwork to do so I don't want to add any more" Hinata said rather bluntly

Giving a light chuckle and leaning back in her chair Tsunade now turned her gaze to the Hyuga head and one of her closest friends.

Despite the age gap between them both women had been able to bond over their many similarities over the years. Both wear descended from great noble clans, both were seen as leaders in the village and both held great affection for a certain blonde that had made a significant impact on both their lives.

When Naruto left Hinata was actually the first to notice he was gone. The morning after he ran away Hinata had made her way to his hospital room with some take away Ichiraku ramen an intention of revealing her long held feelings from him. I'm sure you can image the heartbreak in not seeing her crush in bed and later finding out he had abandoned the leaf.

Tsunade was the one who consoled the poor girl and later would take her under her wing. With Tsunade's help Hinata had grown into a fine young Kunoichi and had finally instilled some self confidence in the girl who once couldn't mutter a single sentence without stuttering.

"I need you to do a favour for me" said Tsunade

"What kind of favour"

"A big one"

"How big"

"Big enough for me to knock you through a wall if you keep going"

Who knew that with a little self esteem one could also become a bit of a smart ass.

"I need you to head to Kumo and meet up with Shikamaru as my representative."

"What for Lady Tsunade?" Hinata asked, now quiet curious

"He'll fill you in on the details later, but for now all I can say is that a major political dilemma is going to unfold and at the moment I can't leave the village to handle it, so I need someone with her own political influence as head of a powerful clan, as well as someone I can trust to handle it for me"

Hinata understood what the elder women really meant. Something was suspicious happening and the leaf couldn't be seen as overeager in having the Hokage personally investigate it, she also wasn't sure what was going to happen and couldn't trust any others to this task.

"I'll leave tomorrow then Lady Hokage" Hinata said with a bow as she left the office.

Tsunade now alone resumed her paperwork, yet her thoughts were more preoccupied with the ever more suspicious 'Yoshimaru incident' as it was coming to be known.

Shikamaru had sent word back to Konoha, giving details in how he had, after a little snooping, discovered that the Lord of the Land of Lighting had been planning in establishing a colony on the islands of Yoshimaru. Apparently the Daimyo has received word that it appeared someone else was occupying the Islands and had ordered the Raikage to 'investigate'.

'Like it takes a hundred Jounin level ninja to carry out an investigation'

Tsunade could feel that this was going to be a big issue for the alliance, if someone had decided to just set up camp on the islands then the Raikage was almost certainly going to make a fuss about it.

And when he made a fuss it usually ended in blood on the floor

Islands of Yoshimaru

Durai was currently at his wits end, he had been here for nearly a week trying to gather the remaining islanders who managed to evade capture when he and his men first arrived.

The main island was clear but the surrounding island that were simply covered in vegetation were a different story, add to the fact that the remaining islanders had decided to sink one of his ships and place traps everywhere also had an effect on the dark skin man's mood.

He hadn't needed to take any lives yet but in all honesty he was deliberating whether or not he should in light of the fact that at this rate he wouldn't be able to take all the people he had captured back to the land of lightning.

Currently he was standing at the beach not far away from the main village. His men were anchoring their remaining ships after having scouted the area for any remaining islanders. Tomorrow they would set sail for the land of lightning and take as many as they could, Durai would also have to get word to the Raikage about the statue in the village they had found.

"CAPTAIN 6 O'CLOCK!" a Kumo nin shouted, pointing at the biggest ship Durai had ever seen that was moving around the island headed towards the beach.

"CAPTAIN LOOK!" Another nin shouted as he too pointed out another, equally massive ship coming around the island for the other direction.

Quickly scanning each vessel, Durai noted that unlike his own ships, these behemoths were not made of wood, no these were made of metal.

That had no sails, and from what he Durai could tell, they seemed to have some kind of large metal cylinders that had smoke rising from the tops.

Durai could also see something moving on each ship as they drew closer to the stunned shinobi. Some kind of long metal barrels or tubes them at rotated to point in the Kumo shinobi direction

"GET DOWN!" Durai shouted just before a series of earth shattering BOOM's went off and in less then a second the beach erupted in a mass of explosions. In his confusion as he ran for cover, Durai could see his ships were destroyed and many of his shinobi were being blown apart by what ever was bombarded the beach.

"GET BACK THE VILLAGE" Durai shouted at whoever could listen as he made a beeline for the village.

Dào shi

As he entered the grand hall, followed by his ministers, Naruto nodded politely at the crowd of nobles who bowed respectfully to the Emperor.

As he approached his throne Naruto nodded to a servant who I turn nodded at the two guards at the door who proceeded to close it.

As Naruto sat in his throne, which was surrounded by his advisors and cabinet ministers, the kings of the Empire approached their own respective thrones and sat as well.

Just as was about to address the noble, a loud knocking echoed through the hall as all eyes turned to the doors.

Unsure to guards looked to the Emperor whom nearly nodded. The two guards the opened the doors allowing a young man in soldiers armour carrying a small scroll to enter the great hall and rush to the Emperor's throne.

The soldier who seemed quiet frantic, handed the scroll to Xin hao inspected the scroll.

Seeing a small seal with a cross ingrained into a red wax, the chancellor handed the scroll to Naruto who promptly opened it and read its contents.

The Emperor's eyes visibly widened as he stood firm his throne. After reading the scroll he looked over the curious crowd who waited eagerly for him to speak

"Lū dào had been attacked" the Emperor declared

"Lord Huang of Xinjiang has mobilised the 3rd fleet to respond to Lord Chen's call for help" he said further as heavy silence fell across the hall.

"Chancellor Xin, ready the 10th legion and send word to Admiral Yin to meet me at Xinjiang and end work to all of the legions to keep watch for any unrest." Naruto ordered as Xin bowed before quickly left the hall

The gathered nobles simply watched as Naruto stormed out of the hall. After hearing that his good friend and what was essentially his hometown was under attack Naruto was in no mood for petty squabbles or marriage proposals.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The world starts turning

Xinjiang

It had been 2 weeks since he had received word of the attack in Lū dào and three days since he had returned after retaking the islands with the 'invaders'.

They had put up a decent fight but the Imperial soldiers had overwhelmed them with sheer numbers. 75 or so up against 2000, they stood no chance.

When they first arrived they couldn't see any battleships or any patrol boats, no fleet that would warrant two thousand soldiers and fifty three imperial battlecruisers to travel to the westernmost province of the Empire.

All they could see was five insignificant wooden boats that had been beached on the shore not far from the main village. Scouts had reported that no villagers had been seen outside of the village so all Lord Huang could assume was they had been captured and moved somewhere.

They gunned down the boats like it was child's play. Then the landing boats were sent in carrying the first wave of soldiers.

Lord Huang became puzzled almost as soon as the assault began, these invaders mustn't have been expecting any kind of counter attack as there was nothing standing in his way as his men stormed the beach, surrounded the village and neutralised the enemy in less than an hour.

After everything had settled, the Imperial commanders had counted ten of the invaders left with only twelve casualties in there side. They had also notified Lord Huang of the apparent leader, the dark skinned man who was seen yelling orders as he decapitated a soldiers before being brought down by a few spears to the back and legs and sword stoke to the arm.

Many of the invaders died in the assault but ten lucky survivors had managed to make it through.

Now Lord Huang and his forces had returned to Xinjiang, where the Emperor was waiting for them rather eagerly with the 10th legion.

Under normal circumstances there would have been absolutely no reason for the Emperor himself to make the long journey to Xinjiang as well as to bring an entire legion for the sake of ten foreign invaders.

But these were not normal circumstances. These ten who were once a hundred had managed to capture almost every person living in Lū dào in less than 3 days. That in itself was unusual but the fact that these soldiers could walk on water, breath fire and shoot lightning all the while having no known origin or affiliation with any organisation that lord Huang knew of.

Wherever they came from, whoever they were, one thing was certain… they were not going back.

Lord Huang's residence

The victorious lord had almost immediately headed home as soon as he stepped off his ship. Soon he was at his home in a large spacious living room where the Emperor was patiently waiting.

"Your majesty" Huang bowed low

"Lord Huang" Naruto greeted back with a simple nod

"Can the servants get you anything to drink?" asked Huang as both men sat down.

"No thank you. If you don't mind I'd like to get on with your report" the Emperor said sternly

"Of course your majesty" the Lord of Xinjiang replied as he remembered the events of th attack.

"When we first arrived off the coast of Lū dào we couldn't see any kind of enemy fleet or any other vessels, there were no fishing boats from the villagers or anything like that so I assumed that the islands inhabitants had been captured. When we came to the main island our scouts spotted what appeared to be five wooden sailboats beached upon the shoreline. From there we could also see some people on the beach but there were no banners or flags to indicate who they were. We shot down the boats and stormed the beach, within an hour we had recaptured the villagers and eliminated the invaders. They tried to retaliate and most were killed but we managed to capture a number of them including the leader."

"What of Lord Chen?"

Lord Huang simply lowered his head this. "According to the villagers, once they found him he...was tortured… and killed"

Naruto closed his eyes at this, he thought something like this had happened. This wasn't the first time a friend of his had died nor was it the first time a friend had died violently. He was used to this kind of loss.

"We couldn't find any kind of flag on their ships or a banner to determine the invaders allegiance, but we were able to find this…" Lord Huang said as he reached into his armour and pulled something "...all the invaders wore this on their foreheads"

When Naruto saw what Huang held in his hand he felt his heart sink. The Emperor's eyes widened in shock and his mouth opened as if to speak but no words came out.

In Lord Huang's hand was a torn and burnt piece of cloth with a small metal plate on it. Carved into the metal was a symbol that Naruto recognised and had hoped he would never see in his life. It was the symbol for the village hidden in the clouds.

Moments passed as Naruto stood there in shock. Lord Huang simply waited for the Emperors response.

"The leader… you said you captured him" said Naruto with an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

"Yes your majesty, I had him moved into the city jail when we arrived."

"Ok then… that will be all" the Emperor said as he made his way out the door.

In all his years Lord Huang had never met a man as strong and honourable as Naruto Uzumaki, he was a great warrior and an even greater leader, the man had a unique quality about him that seemed to draw others to his side. Yet at the simply sight of a this metal headband Lord Huang saw his Emperor frozen in shock, as if someone had told him the world was going to end.

'Who are these people? What does Naruto have to do with them?' Thought the puzzled lord as he made his way to his private quarters to change out of his armour.

* * *

The streets of Xinjiang

As Naruto made his way to the cities jail his mind was running a million miles an hour. So many questions filled his mind.

How did they get here?

Why where they here?

Had they found him?

What did Kumo want with him?

" **Calm down Naruto..."** Kurama said from within the seal **"...panicking about it won't help you"**

Hearing this the blonde stopped for a brief moment, took a deep breath and felt his heartbeat slow down dramatically.

'Thanks Kurama' Naruto replied mentally as he resumed walking at a much more relaxed pace.

" **So what are you going to do with them?"** The tailed beast asked

'...I don't know'

" **They attacked your land, your people and you don't know? They killed Chen, they herded your people like cattle. You know what you should do Naruto."**

'I'd rather find out why they did what they did before I do anything drastic'

" **Your the Emperor Naruto, the Emperor cannot show weakness"**

'I'm the Emperor and that mean I'll do what I want!' Naruto said rather irritated in his mind. Kurama didn't respond instead returning to the depths of Naruto's mind

Despite their history, when Naruto first arrived on the other side of the world the Kyuubi began to regularly talk with the Blonde. At first it was merely for survival, helping Naruto survive this new land so the nine tails would survive as well.

Then when Naruto began his conquest in order to bring peace to an ever warring land the tailed beast began to see the young Uzumaki in a new light. Soon the two became partners, the kyuubi would lend Naruto his power whenever necessary whilst the Blonde began to listen to the ancient being for advice.

Through it all the two bonded through the stress of war and eventually they became friends with Naruto opening the seal allowing Kurama full access to his senses and even allowed him to come out of the seal whenever needed. Despite this the Fox was still had a bloodthirsty nature and would usually push Naruto to the more violent choice.

Some things never change.

* * *

Xinjiang prison

In a dimly light room surrounded by stone walls with a large metal door sat Durai. His appearance looked rather bad with his clothes torn and his hair in a mess.

His face was covered in burn marks that were beginning to heel and his body was covered in wounds with his legs wrapped in bandages left arm in a makeshift sling.

He sat against the wall with large metal chains wrapped around his waist and torso, his Kage were also chained together while his arms were chained at the forearm to the wall.

His eyes were closed as he held his head back thinking on how he had ended up in here.

'They came so quickly… we had no way of knowing… we shouldn't have kept the boats so close together… where the hell did they come from…'

His body ached from his injuries, despite being a prisoner the soldiers had patched him up well enough to keep him alive.

'Probably going to interrogate me… torture me…find out why we came…'

The door to the room swung open as a guard allowed a man in long orange robes into the cell. Durai didn't open his eyes trying to maintain his composure 'Kumo shinobi don't show fear' he thought to himself.

"What does Kumogakure want with the islands of Lū dào?" Said the man

At the mention of Kumo, Durai opened his eyes to look on the man in front of him.

His eyes widened further as he saw the person if front of him. The man whom had caused a war, who had been missing for eight years and whom had been searched for by all the great powers in the elemental nations.

Durai saw the long blonde spiky hair, the whisker marks on each cheek and the deep blue eyes that glared down on him from the six foot tall man

"Naruto… Uzumaki"

Naruto didn't respond to this, he had expected him to know his name so this came as no shock.

"What does Kumogakure want with the islands of Lū dào?" Naruto asked again

Durai was quiet for a moment before he spoke "so this is where you've been" he said

"So you were looking for me?" The Blonde asked again

Durai simply looked at the man again, then closed his eyes as he chuckled softly.

Naruto became a little irritated at this "What's so funny?"

Durai looked at the ground with a soft smile on his face "Do you have any idea how long the shinobi world has been looking for you? how many people died looking for you?"

Naruto remained quiet

"To think that all this time you were on the other side of the world while the Akatsuki rounded up all the other Jinchuuriki while you were here hiding from the world" Durai shook his head at this

As soon as Durai finished he felt an overwhelming pressure weighing down his whole body, he struggled to breath as his eyes widened upon seeing the blonde man in front of him enveloped in a white glow that covered his body.

Moments passed as the pressure faded and Durai was able to catch his breath

"That... *breath*... wasn't chakra ...*breath*" the dark skinned Jounin said between heavy breaths.

"No it wasn't, it's called Chi, the people over here use it instead of Chakra" the Blonde sad as he stepped forward and rolled up the long sleeves over his right arm.

"I'm going to ask one more time, why are you here?"

"I should ask you the same thing..." Durai replied

"...the last jinchuuriki in the known world, I think the alliance would like me to bring you back"

"You know you can keep avoiding the questions all you want, eventually I'll find out what I want to know" the Emperor said as kneeled down to make eye contact with the Jounin.

Durai meet the Emperor's gaze "you can hide all you want, eventually you will be found and the shinobi world will take back the Kyuubi to where it belongs you fucking traitor!"

Naruto said nothing to the Kumo Nin, he simply raised his hands and placed his right hand over Durai's forehead.

'Kurama… do whatever you want just don't leave him brain dead'

Inside the seal the Fox grinned evilly as he felt himself being pulled from the seal.

In the outside world Durai saw how the Blondes eyes became blood red with slitted pupils, his finger nails grew into claws and his whisker marks became much darker and more pronounced. Then as soon as it happened Naruto's appearance returned to normal.

"I'll be back soon when your ready to talk" Naruto said as he walked out of the cell and shut the door.

'What was that about' Durai thought to himself

" **A Jutsu he came up with to allow me to fuck with other people's minds"** Kurama said from inside Durais mind

"What?...who was that?" Durai said allowed as he began to panic at hearing another voice in his head.

As Durai looked around the room he began to see the world twist and blur into strange shapes, his skin began to crawl and his whole body went stiff. Finally when his vision returned to normal all Durai could see was a black void with nothing but a large rabbit giving him a very strange look.

" **Ooooh this is going to be fun, tell me do you like bunnies?"**

For the next hour Kurama forced Durai into watching the most horrific scenes the Fox could think of. The Jounin saw chains Wrap around him and felt as if he would be squeezed to death, he saw rats eat away at his hands and feet, felt his skin boil and burn when he was dropped in a boiling cauldron. He felt himself being violated over and over again by a horse sized rabbit.

" **Hehehe I love doing this"** the Fox said as he manipulated the Kumo ninjas senses to create the illusions.

All Durai could do was scream.

* * *

Konohagakure

In a large two story house not far from the village wall, inside his lounge room surrounded by picture and relics of a long career sat a man who had fought through three ninja wars, train some of the greatest shinobi in history and written one the most popular adult book series in the world.

This man was Jiraiya of the Sannin

He was wearing a simple gray dressing gown and his long white hair fell behind him over the chair he was sitting in. His back was slouched and his face had wrinkles around his eyes.

During the Fourth shinobi war Jiraiya had fought on the front lines, he served as the Alliances field commander and had fought and defeated the Akatsuki leader Pain. He was credited as being one of the most important figures in ending the war and was hailed as a hero in most of the world.

During the war the sannin had suffered many injuries, his body was covered in scars including one that ran down the side of his neck. He even nearly lost an arm during his fight with Pain but Tsunade managed to reattach it.

During the war the Toad sage had fought to not only defend his home but also to try and fix one of his greatest mistakes, something that had weighed heavily on his mind for years.

His godson Naruto Uzumaki

Now he was an old man retired from duty and reserved himself to the quiet life of an author inside his home.

When the boy ran away Jiraiya had at first thought nothing of it but a childish phase over the loss of a teammate. When he summoned the Toad sages Ma and Pa to reverse summon the boy his concerns grew when he learned that it didn't work yet still he didn't get too worked up. When he summoned the Toads summoning contract and saw that the boys name had been ripped out and destroyed his heart sank, the realisation dawned on him that the boy had truly abandoned the leaf.

Maybe if he had come into his life sooner

Maybe if he had been a better teacher

Maybe if he had taken the boy as a newborn like he should have

Maybe if had been a real godfather like the boy needed him to be

Maybe Naruto wouldn't have ran away, maybe he could have been Hokage by now and Jiraiya would have been able to finally have one thing in his life to be proud of.

Now here he was, a shadow of his former self, with nothing left but a broken body and a broken heart hidden from the world inside his home, writing the stories of his life so that others may learn from his mistakes.

A knock on the front door raised the mans attention from his work as he stood up and slowly walked to answer the door.

When he eventually opened it he greeted the person he meet.

"Hello Tsunade" Jiraiya said as a small smile graced his face.

"Hey Jiraiya" Tsunade said as she smiled back and entered his home.

Soon the two sat opposite each other around a small coffee table each on a blue couch in a room surrounded by bookshelves.

The two sat in comfortable silence, as if they were going through a routine.

"What can I do for you Hime" Jiraiya asked as he folded his hands over his chest

"Nothing… I just came to see how you were doing" Tsunade replied with a smile on her face.

"Well something is up cause you never come by when nothing's wrong" the toad sage raised his eyebrow and gave a questioning look

Tsunade chuckled lightly "Well now that you mention it there was something I was going to ask you"

"What it it?" Jiraiya asked

"I'm sure you've heard of the Yoshimaru incident from one of your contacts..."

Jiraiya simply nodded at this, despite being retired he still kept in contact with his many spies around the elemental nations as a way to keep himself informed.

"...well the Raikage has called for a Five Kage summit out of the blue, Yoshimaru has something to do with it but I'm not sure in what way" the Hokage continued

"And what do you want me to do? I'm not as strong as I used to be Tsunade so I hope you don't expect me to take him on."

The Hokage looked him in the eye "I sent Shikamaru on a diplomatic mission in order to probe deeper into the issue and from what he has heard it seems that tensions are high in the alliance… I need you to come with me to the summit, I'm gonna need your advice in how to deal with the other Kage if I'm going to maintain the peace we both fought hard to create"

Jiraiya simply laid back in his seat as he closed his eyes in thought "the Raikage tries to colonise a few islands at the edge of the world and when he finds out someone's already living there he starts pointing the finger" he said rather plainly

"Pretty much" Tsunade agreed

He paused for a moment thinking on the situation "you want me to help make peace between five paranoid Kages so we can all continue pretending to be friends"

"Petty much" Tsunade said, Jiraiya was never one to beat around the bush and in his retirement had only grown to be more direct and painfully pointing out the obvious

"Fine I'll do it as a favour" the toad sannin said. "I've been bored lately anyway"

Being cooped up inside his home with nothing but sad memories and unfinished stories had left Jiraiya craving some excitement.

Who knows maybe he could find some inspiration for his next book.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Retribution

The Imperial city of Dào shi

It had been a week since Naruto had interrogated Durai and ever since a feeling of dread had followed him.

He had ordered the 10th legion to remain in Xinjiang as well as the 3rd fleet to continue patrolling the western sea.

Since the attack a sense of paranoia had spread through the Empire, of foreign invaders attacking the far of edged of the young Empire. The hyper social nobility had made a great fuss about the incident and particularly about the origin of these attackers.

Many questions had arisen among the ruling class. For no general had ever heard of the tactics they used nor had any traveler recognised their attire.

Yet Naruto knew better, he knew exactly where they come from, who they were and with what he had learned from Durai he also knew what they wanted.

He had missed the Festival in celebration of his conquest, in normal circumstances he would have welcomed the distraction from the pompous festivities and overly expensive decorations. If only he could find an excuse to leave the Capital now.

"We must act"

"This cannot be tolerated"

"Who are these foreigners"

"Your majesty we must investigate"

"Something must be done and quickly, the Empire must not be seen as weak" a random lord said from within the throne room.

"And what would you suggest my Lord?" Responded Xin Hao the Imperial Chancellor

"We know that the attackers came from lands west beyond Lū dào, we must send a legion and retaliate accordingly" the Lord said

"And go where, we know nothing of what lie west beyond the sea!"

"How about we learn why they attacked before before we go to war" Xin said.

"If these foreigners can walk on water and shoot bolts of lightning as was reported by Lord Huang then we are lucky that it was only a hundred that attacked and not a thousand" said a middle aged man whom sat second on Naruto's right in the circle of thrones

"Do you doubt the Imperial army King Xiu?" Xin asked the man who wore long white robes with black trimmings.

"Not at all Your Majesty, but we cannot be overconfident in such a situation such as this…" the King then stood from his throne and proceeded to walk to the centre of the hall, turning to address the crowd "... if these foreigners can do as Lord Huang said they could then we cannot treat this like a pirate raid or quiet skirmish, we must take action."

"What would you propose we do then your grace?" Asked Xin Hao.

"I say we respond to this attack as if it were an invasion." The King said, mumbling could be heard through the crowd as Naruto's eyes narrowed towards Xiu. "These foreigners came to our land and captured the villagers in Lū Dào like they were cattle, what's to say they won't come again?" He let the question hang in the air. "...they came to our land with a hundred. I say we go to their land with a legion…" he observed the faces of the nobles gathered, seeing their emotions being torn over what to do "What if they attacked Xian to the north, or the Bay of Jing, what if they sacked Xinjiang or Beihai?"

Naruto could see what the King was doing, he saw the looks the nobles had as they heard Xu speak.

'What do you think Kurama?' Naruto asked the fox in his mind

" **He has a point, if shinobi came to clear out and colonise the islands they think the land is theirs and you know well enough that shinobi will die for what they think is theirs. What's to say they won't come again with greater numbers or perhaps if they were to attack the mainland?"**

'I doubt they would try' Naruto replied 'the shinobi world doesn't even know of the Empire, why would they invade us?'

" **The shinobi world may not know of what lies to the east but how long will it remain that way?"** The Fox said rather seriously **"don't let your feelings of the past get in the way of your duties as the Emperor Naruto, these people invaded your territory, captured your people and would have taken them to who knows where. Shinobi are arrogant and prideful, the Raikage would see you as the aggressor for occupying his territory and would attack without hesitation"**

Naruto remained quiet, not knowing what to say. He remembered how he felt when he saw Lord Huang's message, he remembered how he felt traveling to Xinjiang with the 10th legion in tow as if he was about to go to war, he remembered how he reacted when he saw the Kumo headband and how he acted when he had Kurama torture Durai.

" …if we do nothing, then we are inviting these foreign invaders to come and take what they will" Naruto heard the King say as he finished his speech and went to sit in his throne again.

"I don't believe this attack to be the beginning of an invasion as you make it out to be King Xiu" said the elderly King Zhou who wore long blue robes. "Something must be done, that I do agree, but to treat this as an invasion is overdoing it"

"The Empire hasn't seen war in five years, since then we have seen peace and prosperity for all our peoples, why would we jeopardise it all for the sake of a hundred foreigners attacking the most remote province of the Empire" Xin said to the nobles gathered, no one replied as a silence hung in the air.

"They will come again..." Naruto broke the silence "...their leader ... _revealed…_ to me their intentions behind the attack..." Naruto stood from his throne and began walking to the map painted in the centre of the hall "...apparently Lū dào is claimed by a foreign power, whom received word of people inhabiting the island, our people…" he stood over the islands of Lū dào and looked west over the map "...they will come again, they will attack again and when they learn of what exists beyond the islands of Lū dào they will not be friendly."

The whole room remained quiet after the Emperor finished.

"What shall we do your majesty?" Asked the Chancellor breaking the silence.

"Have Lord Huang take command of the 10th legion, he will the use the 3rd fleet to sail west past Lū dào." The Emperor said before turning to the crowd of Nobles "All the Legions throughout the Empire are to march to Xinjiang and all of our fleets are to sail to the Bay of Jing. I will personally sail west with the rest of the Imperial army and meet up with Lord Huang." The Emperor finished

" **An all our war with the shinobi world, are you sure this is what you want Naruto?"** Kurama asked the Blonde Emperor.

'When they hear of their defeat I doubt Kumo would take such an embarrassment without further conflict. If the other great nations hear of what happened at Lū dào then other shinobi are sure to come. I can't have shinobi in my Empire nor can I take a chance with Kumo retaliating' Naruto paused as he saw the crowd react to his declaration 'it will take an the full night of the Empire to put down the shinobi world and I will not wait for them to make the first move'

" **Good...your thinking like an Emperor."**

* * *

Kumogakure

In his hotel room near the centre of the village hidden among the clouds, one Shikamaru Nara was explaining the current political climate to one Hinata Hyuuga.

Officially the Hyuuga was sent as the representative of the hidden leaf and to act as the voice of the Hokage. In response to the implied accusations that the Raikage was making of the other great villages Tsunade had thought it appropriate to send the Head of the Hyuuga clan in her stead despite Kumos history of attempted theft of the Byakugan

Really it was a message to say the Konoha doesn't think much of Kumo of its accusations.

There were other emissaries sent from the other great villages as well but they aren't important.

"... and so the Raikage has decided to bring the annual five Kage summit forward a few months in order to _resolve any tensions_." Shikamaru said sarcastically.

" I see, well there's not much we can really do besides wait until Lady Tsunade gets here, the Raikage won't divulge anything until he can meet face to face with the other Kage." Hinata replied

" yeah I know… what a drag" Shikamaru said as he leaned on the doorway

A moment of silence passed before Hinata spoke "It's a shame to see the Alliance under such pressure over something so stupid, I mean who would want the Islands of Yoshimaru anyways?"

A smirk appeared on Shikamaru's face "shinobi can do amazing things, peace though, shinobi just can't do it"

Hinata frowned at this " you have a point I guess…" she paused "... still this alliance is the best bet for a long term peace and I doubt a few remote islands in the middle of the ocean will undo all that has been accomplished"

Shikamaru made his way to sit beside Hinata in the bed in the hotel room " If the Raikage openly accuses any other village of illegally occupying the islands then lines will be drawn and tensions will grow, push may come to shove and I have no idea where the leaf will fall into this"

"Lady Tsunade won't let that happen and I doubt the other Kage would either…" Hinata said back to him "... the great alliance survived the war we can survive a bit of gossip"

" It's easy to stay united against a common foe, but what do we have in common now. Akatsuki is gone and now the Kage are itching to take advantage of the weakness of the other villages."

Hinata turned to look her friend in the eye and gave a soft smile "You know your a lot more depressing than you were as a child"

Shikamaru smiles back " and you talk a lot more than you did as a girl, I wonder what changed in you"

Hinata smiled sadly as she looked down to her hands as she played with them just as she did as a genin "He had a habit of changing people for the better, I guess he helped me become more confident." She said softly "What changed to make you see the such evil in the world?" She asked.

Shikamaru paused for a moment as he frowned "If someone as good as him could lose all hope for a better future then to me that's proof that there isn't one." He said as he rose to his feet and left the room.

Hinata, now alone, laid down on her bed and stained at the ceiling 'Naruto…' she thought to herself.

'What happened to you?'

* * *

Raikage Office

A was not a patient man nor was he a well tempered man and it would take a genius to realise that this was not a good mix.

Normally in his duties as Raikage he could remain calm in the face of adversity and maintain his composure when forced to wait. During the war he lead the Alliance as the Supreme Commander and was forced to remain at HQ as Allied forces fought all over the continent

When the first battle was fought he waited and they won, when the Akatsuki found his brother he controlled his emotions and remained calm and when the siege of Konoha was broken he took the advantage in wiping out the enemies forces, and when the Allies stormed the Enemies HQ he took solace in the fact that he had avenged his brother and defeated his enemy.

Yet now he was quite irritated, he was frustrated and by god was he on the edge. During the war at least he had a constant flow of communication from the front lines while he was waiting. Now though all he could do was wait, wait for Durai to return with new of who was occupying his territory and hopefully give him the chance to show that Kumo was still strong despite the aftermath of the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Durai was meant to arrive back in the land of Lightning three days ago and yet he had received no word of his right hand man.

Word had spread among the great powers of his movements and so he was forced to make accusations of his allies so as no to seem too suspicious. He was never really that good at politics.

The Five Kage Summit was due to be held in two weeks and with no word of Durai, A was becoming increasingly anxious of the situation.

A knock on the door disturbed the Raikage from his thoughts "Enter" he said firmly.

An average looking Receptionist dressed in plain grey clothes and blonde hair walked inside the office to lay down a pile of Paperwork in front of the Raikage. Among the papers were many ornate scrolls decorated with the Elemental symbols of the other shinobi villages.

"Raikage-sama" the receptionist said respectfully as she left the office.

It seemed that with his accusations the other villages had sought to counter his accusations with rumours of their own. Suna has accused him of stockpiling weapons on the islands and he was now seeking a cover story to hide them. Iwa accused him of seeking to underhand the Alliance and sow mistrust in order to assert Kumo's dominance. Konoha in the other hand had plainly denied the claims that any shinobi village had occupied the islands and the Hokage had even proposed the idea of bringing the next Kage summit forward in order to address the issue.

A didn't miss the hidden message behind the polite message Tsunade had written nor did he miss the fact that it was delivered by the Head if the Hyuuga clan alone. Konoha had always remained the greatest supporter of the Alliance since the end of the war and it was unsurprising that Tsunade would want to release the tension.

Yet Konoha would not appear weak, resorting to shows of political strength to maintain its reputation.

A really wished that Durai was here to offer his opinion on the matter, he was alway better at this political bullshit then A ever was.

The Raikage took a deep breath as he relaxed into his chair, for the moment he would cat it all aside and begin with his paperwork for the day.

* * *

Xinjiang

Inside his private residence Lord Huang sipped his tea as he stood in front of his window looking out over the sea as it shone in the moon light.

He had not long received word from the capital and starting tomorrow he was to begin preparations to begin an armed expedition with the 10th legion to go west in search of were the foreigners had come from.

It was quite unnerving when all the direction he was given was to _'go west until you have gone past your maps and land upon the first land that you see'_

The Emperor had also ordered him to prepare a foothold for more legions to arrive once the fleet had returned to the Empire.

He was to travel beyond the known sea, find a land he knew not where it was and to send back his ships to bring more soldiers. Great plan

While he didn't agree with what the Emperor was planning to do he nevertheless could see the merit in such a move. From what he saw these foreigners were strong and quiet different from the Empire.

If they were to attack the mainland then who knows what would happen. Despite this Huang was a man who had seen enough war and wasn't keen on seeing any more death.

The strange thing was that in the message the Emperor had given detailed instructions on how quickly he needed to get moving as well as to remain constantly vigilant.

This had got him thinking

It seemed that the Emperor was purposely going overboard in sending the whole army as a way to exaggerate the threat, a hundred solders attack an island so the Emperor sends a million men in return.

Perhaps to create a common foe to unite against.

Perhaps these foreigners were powerful enough to deserve such a response, but then why was the Emperor so afraid of these foreigners that he would essentially mount an invasion.

But why would he take such a risk, why take the chance in sending the Empires combined strength across the ocean into unknown waters if he wasn't sure they would return. Huang knew that the young Emperor was not one to risk life so needlessly therefore what was it that was giving him such assurance.

Oh well, that was for tomorrow, tonight he wanted to relax, to have one last moment of peace before he left home not knowing whether or no he would come back.


End file.
